Page 66 of Secret Baby Daddies

I went to my bedroom to look for the check.

“Like a sexy nightmare or a nightmare nightmare?”

Aaron was quiet for a few seconds and then his voice was lowered when he did speak again.

“Think a human-sized cat with Dr. Phil’s face. He just keeps coming at me and screaming and the screams start to sound like advice and it’s all awful. And then, the face turns into Ricki Lake and we have sex.”

I stood still and let that sink in.

“Wow. Do you need a hug?”

“Shut the hell up. We do not hug. We argue. Why aren’t you arguing? Scream back at me and tell me to sit on a rose, or something.”

I spotted the corner of the check and snatched it up.

“While you’re dreaming about talk show hosts I’m having the real thing and it’s really helped with my anger.”

He scoffed.

“I get laid. I get laid all the time. I’m just not loud and obnoxious about it.”

“You want to know something weird?” I grabbed a few things from my closet and answered myself. “I’ve missed you. I think we’re friends. I don’t know how and I would’ve moved if I’d known it was coming, but I think it happened.”

“Shut up.”

“I’m serious. I’m going to miss you. I think I’m moving in with—” A knock at my door stopped me.

“You expecting company?”

“No. I just got a shiver down my back.”

“Ooh, like someone stepped on your grave.”

I gasped.

“What?”

“Go answer the goddamn door so I can find out who’s there. I’ve got shit to do, woman.”

I flipped him off even though he couldn’t see me and headed toward the door. The peephole had been painted over yearsbefore I ever moved in so I had to open the door and hope for the best. I pulled it open, expecting it to be the landlord coming to tell me to get my shit out but who I see standing on the other side is a million times worse than even the creepiest landlord I’d ever had.

“Dad?”

“Dad?” Aaron sounded like he was in the room with us. “Like Daddy or like biological shit?”

I couldn’t deal with both of them and I chose Aaron but when I tried to shut the door Dad blocked it and stepped inside.

“Why are you here? I don’t want you here.”

He’d gotten older. His skin looked looser than I remembered and he’d gone grey. The man I’d once seen as a massive force just looked tired as he stood in front of me.

“Talk to me, Harley. Please. I don’t know what went wrong between us but I’ll do anything to fix it. I love you, Harley. I’ve never—”

“Stop.” I held up my hand and shook my head. “You need to leave.”

“No. I’m not leaving until you talk to me.” He’d never confronted me before and it was hard to face the man I’d once worshipped with the hate I felt for him boiling up through my stomach.

“Then I’ll leave.” When I tried to go around him he wouldn’t budge to let me out. “You can’t do this! You can’t keep me here with you. I don’t want to do this!”